Lands End to John O'Groats

Evening All, would be great if you could spare some time (and a few quid!!) to have a look at what we're heading off to do this weekend.

http://www.justgiving.com/boyslejog2013

Thanks to those that have supported already either through Facebook or Twitter it been very humbling to see how much support we've received, already close to £2700 raised to date.

On Monday myself and two mates from Uni (both 6'6'' rugby players) will set off cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats in aid of the Cancer Research charity.


Here is what we face each day:

Monday 29th July - Day 1: Lands End – Okehampton (104 miles)
Tuesday 30th July - Day 2: Okehampton – Bristol (95 miles)
Wednesday 31st July - Day 3: Bristol – Ludlow (82 miles)
Thursday 1st Aug - Day 4: Ludlow – Middlewich (72 miles)
Friday 2nd Aug - Day 5: Middlewich – Ambleside (118 miles)
Saturday 3rd Aug - Day 6: Ambleside – Hawick (95 miles)
Sunday 4th Aug - Day 7: Hawick – Perth (104 miles)
Monday 5th Aug - Day 8: Perth – Inverness (111 miles)
Tuesday 6th Aug - Day 9: Inverness – JOG (110 miles)

If anyone is around on the dates and in the area, some support riding would of course also be appreciated! Early starts every day...

Thanks again and see you all soon.


Dan (aka Cona)

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Comments

  • Best of luck to you all Dan ... if you want to take a little Chilterns detour I will happily come and play  image

  • Look!!! Look !!!!   Dan , I mended it  image

  • So the forum fixing spell worked then. 

    I'd love to join you on part of the Hawick to Perth route, but I'm away that day image  Hope all goes well 

     

  • Best of luck Cona! x

    Let us know how it goesimage

  • Thanks Guys, getting a bit nervous now....

     

    Weather for the first couple of days is looking soggy but the wind will be blowing in the right direction and not too cold.

  • You'll be fine once you cross the border. No wind in Scotland, no rain and no hills either. Honest

  • that's what i like to hear, a nice down hill ride from Harwick to JOG......

  • Apologies for the delay, limited wifi

     

    Day 1   'A wonderful day in Duchy' and 'Don't worry it's only a passing shower!'    Dept Lands End @ 06.15 Arrived Okehampton @ 16.00 Total cycling time: 7 hours exactly! Climbing: 9,480 feet Mileage: 106 miles   The 05.15 alarm call was barely needed as a mixture of nerves and a sweaty room for 4 meant there was little sleep!  An excellent breakfast courtesy of Lands End hostel and we were off to the start. Pictures done we peddled away from England's most westerly point bound today for Okehampton in Devon. A wonderful days cycling in the Cornish and Devonian countryside lay ahead. The tail wind was welcome, the occasional heavy shower less so!  The highlights have to be the King Harry Ferry across the River Fal, St Michael's Mount in Penzance, the tin mine remains that litter the rugged Cornish moors, beautiful rivers, following a herd of cows in their pats for a mile in a tiny lane whilst chatting to the farmers wife - we've also been well educated into the yields of Holstein cows (the farmer was a female Jethro!), for Chris and I, a bar, not the one you'd expect us to enjoy but that of the geographical variety and the sign that stated the Travelodge that is home for the night was only half a mile away!  To be fair to Rud our driver for the first two days he was also a highlight; an excellent lunch was brought, he was waiting for us at the designated stops and our bags were waiting in our rooms when we arrived in Okehampton - nice touches! It's fair to say for anyone wanting to eat in Okehampton then there is literally nowhere - stay on the A30 and head for Somerset is my shout! Finally a big thank you to Halfords for fixing a fuse in the van yesterday and for fixing Cona's gears today at lunchtime in an emergency, as a result Chris and I sat in Asda car park, St Austall for an hour in what was a welcome extended lunch! NB: there is very little 3G coverage in Okehampton from any of the major network providers!  Technical Incidents: Cona: gear issues Chris: rear puncture
  • Hope you've had a restful afternoon Dan   image

  • DAY 2- WET, WET, WET

    http://hallcrossacademy.co.uk/blog/lejog/files/2013/07/IMG_1199-300x225.jpg

    Okehampton to Bristol

    Distance 98.2 miles

    Elevation 4927ft

    An early start (5am) followed by Will’s special porridge breakfast aided by the staff at the Travelodge staff in Okehampton. We set off  expecting bad weather and we weren’t disappointed, it rained constantly for the first 6 hours followed by a glorious afternoon on the Somerset levels then rolling in to Bristol was a pleasure.

    Our first stop was Tiverton Tesco where our reliable support driver Jamie Rudkin was waiting with the van and much needed food and water. After re-fueling we set off for Will’s parents house in Taunton another 20 miles down the road. The roads were challenging, busy, wet and undulating with some difficult climbs. However we arrived safely in West Monkton and were greeted by Will’s family very graciously. Annie’s Lasagne slipped down like a cold beer on a hot day and we dried off in anticipation for what lay ahead in the afternoon. Cona and Will sat in dressing gowns kindly donated by ‘Big Phil’ (Will’s Dad) who also suggested that we ‘eat mars bars, if they were good enough for us against the Argies, they’ll be good enough for you!!.’

    In high spirits we saddled up along with Will’s sister Nic on her horse ‘Guiness’ we headed North towards Bristol. We made very good time during the afternoon with some good team riding on the levels with banter a plenty from Dan.

    Will had promised us a decent climb lasting 2 miles past the airport and in to Bristol and again we weren’t disappointed.

    High lights of the day-

    Annie’s Lasagne

    Brioche and ham rolls!

    Sunny afternoon

    Downsides-

    Rain in the morning

    Sore bums!!!

     

     

  • DAY 3   'I've been thinking..... Oh wait I can't remember what I was thinking!'   Dept Bristol @ 06.15 Arrived Ludlow @ 15.35 Total cycling time: 6 hours 45mins Climbing: 8,435 feet Mileage: 98 miles Porridge was the cereal of choice again for the team as we set off bound for 'Middle England' in the pouring rain! About the only thing to excite any of us in the grim conditions was the thought of bacon butties in Chepstow at 20 miles, and for Chris entering his beloved Wales!  What we didn't realise was the fact that our new van driver Jenni was struggling, in fact, couldn't release the hand brake in our van and much like her brothers batting was stuck doing nothing! Fortunately a man, of course it was a man came and showed her that you click the button to release the brake and you can drive away relatively easily! With that valuable lesson learnt she was off to pick up co-driver Anna!  Pit stop 1 done and butties, courtesy of Jenni consumed it was off into the deepest darkest depths of The Forest of Dean, where it is rumoured that people have entered and never returned for the 3 of us. A very hilly and 1 SOS call to the van later after Chris's back tyre exploded 3 times requiring a new tyre later we escaped the Forest and made it to the wonderfully named Crows Hill and the Moodie Cow pub car park for lunch. The morning rains relinquished a little in the afternoon and we powered on across and through beautiful Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire countryside witnessing first hand what millions of pounds can buy you house / estate and car wise!  A nice surprise of a Krispy Creme doughnut greeted our afternoon pit stop followed by a nice flat final 23 miles into the historic town of Ludlow (we haven't seen it but have been told about it by Chris's parents). We made it as far as the Travelodge!  A wonderful evening was spent with Chris's Mum and Dad and his Uncle Steve and Auntie Carol with stories regaled from Steve ranging from his cheap loft conversion to many an escapade involving the amber nectar! A huge thank you goes to Chris's mum Pam for buying dinner for the hungry 3 boys! The support crew of Jenni and Anna have also been superb, bailing us out and finding us with a new tyre in 'the forest', along with bags in rooms on arrival to Ludlow and the unexpected Krispy Creme doughnut was amazing - thank you!! As for tomorrow well the suns meant to come out and we're promised a flat 80 miles across the Cheshire plains from Cona - we look forward to both!!  Technical Incidents: Chris: multiple (3) rear wheel punctures
  • Day 4   Ludlow to Middlewich Distance 82 miles Elevation approx 3000ft Moving time 6 hours   This was nicknamed the ‘rest day’ by my fellow LEJOG’ERS however it was soon apparent that the accumulation of 3 days on the road was starting to catch up with us. As usual an early start saw us leave the Travelodge in Ludlow at 6am with a van full of free Lucozade courtesy of Luis from the 24 hr garage- many thanks me old mate. The day involved 3 climbs through the rolling hills of Shropshire over the Much Wenlock hills which were a pleasure to cycle through. At our first stop we met our now very able support crew of Jen and Anna in the Hamlet of Acton Burnell where all 3 of us devoured several rolls of brioche and lashings of hot coffee.   Shortly after brunch we encountered several Ford’s along the now single lane tracks that we were following. As usual Chris was at the back desperately trying to ‘hang on’ to Dan’s wheel. On the third and final one Will slowed down and negotiated the Ford with no problems. Next up was Dan who had some difficulty on the route that he took, so the old head at the back ‘Planchant’ decided to plot an alternative course. This was to his downfall, He sped in to the stream and just about reached the other side before his front wheel became stuck in a pot-hole and He proceeded to fly over the handle bars and on to his elbow with a crunch! Luckily not too much damage (except to 6'6'' pride).   The next 30 miles or so involved all 3 of the tour group party re-telling stories of debauchery and general bad behaviour in John Moores University; this helped the 30 miles pass fairly quickly before lunch was taken in the Market Drayton Morrisons car park (Rock ‘n’ Roll!!!).   The journey from Market Drayton to Middlewich was uneventful and we rolled in to Dan’s house at 1pm. We then all headed for a sports massage to ease the pain in the legs, met up with Lloyd Conaway (Dan’s dad) who has taken on the support driver role for the remainder of the trip. Big shoes to fill Lloyd-no pressure!!   Signing off from a sunny Middlewich!! Massive day up to Ambleside tomorrow.
  • Good riding Cona, nice reading your daily exploits image

  • Brillinat read.........I so want to do this one day image

     

  • Me to, how about we get a team of 4 together?

  • And me, its on the bucket list

     

  • It's on my 'Things to do when I retire list'. 

  • why wait - next year after Nice?  we'll all be fit image

  • Sounds like a plan! image

  • or before Nice as a training ride.....we would need a support driver in a van

  • I had it kinda pencilled in for next year, then I realised just how much time it would mean taking off work ... I like my holidays ... hence why it got moved to the 'things to do when I retire' image

    But it's a deffo on the to do list.

  • Im keen to do it next year, as I need a serious milestone on the way to my A race.  Would be excellent training and an alternative to an overseas training camp.

    Cona, sorry to hijack your thread image

  • I'm happy to take on some of the organisation if people are serious about a Pirate outing in 2014 (post Nice, pre Kona??)

  • i'm dead keen raf

    Pingu, if you wont waste all your leave you can at least drive the van for the wales section? image

    (Sorry Cona! - hope you're having a blast and you can see that you're being an inspiration! )

  • I hover between wanting to do this and hating the idea

  • Arghh, if this did come off I'd HAVE to do it!

  • hmmm.... nice idea...

    keep going cona!

    I might need a thread for my stupid ride, ( newcastle to london in 24 hrs) - maybe do a post at each of the 7 feed stations .....

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